The Prince, The Princess, and the Beast
by FMAotaku
Summary: An EdwardxWinry one-shot about when they first met as little kids.


**Hello people! Let me just clear some things up before you read. This is just supposed to be a cute little one shot story of Edward, Alphonse, and Winry meeting for the first time. Nothing serious. It sort of ended up pretty cliche. Surprisingly, however, I wanted it to end up that way. I wanted it to be a cute, sort of predictable, fluffy EdxWin story. I wanted to take the stereotypical story of a couple first meeting as kids, but put a little twist on it. I tried my best to reflect the characters personalities as best as I could. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! :) And, enjoy!**

* * *

It was their first day of school. The brothers didn't know what to expect. Alphonse was going to Kindergarten, and Edward was starting out in first grade, because Trisha didn't decide to have them go to school until now. She thought it would help them become more social towards other children, and to take a break from trying to learn alchemy.

It was a chilly fall day, and the sky of Resembool was an odd brownish- orange color, that matched the crisp falling leaves that fell from the trees, swirled in the air, and then landed on the cool ground gracefully.

Trisha had her two sons on either side of her, holding one hand of each. Her hair was in her usual style, placed over one shoulder, with a small hair tie only a few inches away from the tips of her hair. Her dark bronze hair blew softly in the wind.

The boys were looking, however, a bit nicer than usual. Their mother had been slaving away that morning to get them looking their best for school. Their hair was combed and parted, their clothes were clean and pressed, and their teeth were brushed and white.

They finally made it to the school, which was a large, intimidating building. It was a rich peach color, with a creamy white color lining the foundation. There was a small grey stone staircase leading up to a thick, heavy, brown wooden door. Children of different sizes, shapes, and colors were racing and laughing and screaming at the front of the school.

The three of them stopped and gazed at the sight in front of them.

Eventually, Alphonse spoke up.

"Mommy," he began,

"Yes Dear?" she answered.

"I don't like this place. I want to go home."

Trisha laughed. "Al, honey, everything is going to be fine. It's alright if you're scared. It's normal to feel that way on your first day of school. Nothing bad is going to happen, because you have your strong, brave older brother to protect you," she said while the two of them turned towards Ed, who had a stern look on his face.

"So you'll protect me, Brother?" Al asked.

"Yeah, Al. I won't let anything happen to you." He replied, while putting his fists on his hips and puffing out his chest proudly, like a super hero.

Trisha chuckled again and then let go of Alphonse's hand.

"Alright, you two. I'm going to have to leave now. I will pick you up right when school is over, okay? Don't worry, Alphonse. Everything will be okay,"

"And you too, Edward. Just follow the rules, and have fun. Don't worry too much." She said, obviously sensing Ed's discomfort as well.

"Okay, Mommy." They replied, hugging their Mother's legs.

She waved, gave each of them a kiss on the cheek, smiled, and then walked away, disappearing from their sight, as she faded into a crowd of parents.

The boys gulped, and started heading toward the building, hand in hand.

* * *

"Edward Elric," spoke Mrs. Warren.

"Here." Ed called out in return.

The teacher was taking roll as Ed looked around his classroom. Just as he had expected, every kid in his class was whimpering with tears in their eyes, and some were even full-out crying, whining for their parents.

Everyone, except for himself.

Ed just sighed. He could sort of understand why these kids were so upset, because his younger brother was on the verge of tears earlier as well. Edward wasn't upset though, he was just incredibly bored.

He slowly blinked his golden eyes and yawned, resting his chin on his hand right before the teacher called out the next name.

"Winry Rockbell."

Just then, the door to the classroom creaked open, and a little girl popped her small head in.

"Here!" she joyously exclaimed.

She shuffled in, with a tall woman standing beside her.

"Sorry she's late. This school is so big, and we couldn't find her classroom." The woman told the teacher.

"Oh, it's fine. Have a nice day!" Mrs. Warren told the woman, and she smiled in return then walked out of the classroom, waving goodbye to her daughter.

"Hello, Winry. Welcome to class. My name is Mrs. Warren. Now please go find a seat."

Winry nodded, then Edward watched as her eyes scanned the classroom, searching for a seat.

She skipped happily to the back of the room, where Ed was.

Realizing that the empty seat next to him was the only open seat, he sighed and sunk down in his chair.

Like he predicted, Winry flung her book bag onto the ground and plopped herself down into the chair beside him. She grinned at him and held out her hand.

"My name is Winry Rockbell! Nice to meet you! What's your name?" she asked, her hand still lifted towards him, ready for a hand shake.

Ed didn't reply, he just sat there and huffed, looking away from her.

She frowned, lowered her hand, and turned back towards the teacher.

He was still bored. Bored out of his mind. He was bored of his teacher rambling on and on. He was bored of staying in just one place for such a long time. He was bored of this school.

He glanced over at the girl next to him for the hundredth time. He didn't know why had had such interest in staring at her. She was just…interesting.

Ed noticed that she looked much different than the other girls in class. All the other girls wore their hair down in thick curls, or up in a nice, long ponytail, with a bunch of different sparkly pins and barrettes.

But not this girl. She had short, messy blond hair.

All the other girls had on sparkly, colorful dresses.

But not this girl. She wore light blue jean shorts, and a purple and white baseball tee shirt.

_Why is she so different? _Ed thought.

Suddenly, a loud bell interrupted his thoughts, and then all the children in the room started screaming, and rushed out of the door before the teacher could stop them.

"That's the recess bell. Come on, you two." The teacher said, referring to the only kids left in the room, which were Ed and Winry.

Winry got up right after the teacher said this, and strolled out the door.

Ed took his sweet time to get up and walk out to recess, because he was now fed up with school. He hated it. He wished it never existed.

When he made it outside, he was greeted with a scene similar to the one he and Al had witnessed earlier. There were screaming children running around, playing, and laughing with each other.

Shortly after that, he remembered what his Mother had said the night before. She mentioned that at their new school kindergartners and first graders go to recess at the same time, so they would most likely see each other.

With that in mind, Ed got on his tip-toes and tried to peer over the sea of other kids to look for his brother, but it was no use. He was no where to be seen.

Just then, horrible thoughts flooded into his mind. What if Al was lost? What if he was scared and alone? What if he was being bullied? He could be getting hurt right now.

He shuddered at all the possibilities of bad things that could happen to his brother.

So, Ed started frantically weaving his way through the crowds of children, calling out his brother's name.

"AL! ALPHONSE! AL, WHERE ARE YOU?" he shouted.

Five minutes had passed that he was looking for Al, but to him, it felt like forever.

He had finally gotten tired of running around, and his throat hurt from all that yelling, so he bent over, and rested his hands on his knees, panting.

A few seconds later, he heard loud laughing, and he looked in the direction he heard it from.

Many feet away, he saw a large tree. It was far away from where all the other kids were. He squinted in attempt to see it better. The laughing was definitely coming from there.

And there he was. His younger brother, Alphonse, sitting underneath a tree, with a huge grin across his face.

"AL!" he hollered, but his younger sibling still couldn't hear him. He rushed over to the tree, so he would notice him.

"Al! There you are! I was looking all over for you! Are you okay?" Ed asked him.

His laughing stopped for a moment and he turned toward Ed.

"Oh, hi Brother!" he said, smiling.

"Hey! I remember you! You sit next to me in class. Wait, _he _is your brother, Alphonse?" Winry asked, coming out from behind the tree.

Al nodded and then grinned. "Brother! This is my new friend, Winry. Isn't she pretty? She's really nice. Do you want to play with us?"

Ed's hands formed into fists, and his face started getting red with anger.

"Winry? Why are you playing with her, Al? You're supposed to play with _me _during recess. Not some dumb _girl._" He sneered.

"Brother! Don't call her dumb! She's really funny, and smart! I was out here all alone, and she came to play with me. We can play with whoever we want at recess. I want both of you to play with me." Al said.

"No! You can either play with me, your brother, or _her_. Your choice!" Ed spat.

"Why don't we make a game that all three of us can play?" Winry chirped in, her round, blue eyes sparkling.

Al agreed, smiling. Winry smiled, too. Ed just sighed, and growled in defeat.

* * *

"Okay, let's play 'Save the Princess'! Three people can play. There is a prince, a princess, and a fire-breathing monster. Who gets which part?" asked Al.

"Well," Winry said smiling towards Alphonse, her face slightly red, "I think Al should be the prince because princes are handsome and brave, and so is he."

He blushed and looked down towards his feet, wringing his hands together.

"T-thanks, Winry. Then if I'm the prince, Winry has to be the princess, because she is pretty and nice."

Edward scoffed and folded his arms. He felt jealousy pulse through him, even though he would never admit it. "That's stupid. I think _I _should be the prince. I am the older brother. Al should be the monster."

"You…want to be…my prince?" Winry asked Ed, her blush darkening.

Winry and Alphonse smiled, and then exchanged a look with each other that Ed didn't recognize.

"Well, I just don't want to be the monster, 'cause it's dumb." He replied.

"Okay. Then Ed will be the prince, and I will be the monster. Let's play!" Al confirmed.

Edward excitedly looked around for something to use as a weapon to defeat the monster and save the princess. He finally settled on a small stick lying on the ground near him.

"You are going down, evil monster!" he cried, yielding his weapon.

Al quickly got deep into his role of "the monster", and started growling, then lunged at his brother.

Ed started pretending to slice the monster with his sword.

"Hya! Hya!" Ed exclaimed while jabbing the stick at him.

"Go Edward, Go!" Winry cheered.

The three of them continued playing for ten minutes. They were laughing, and shouting, and smiling. This was the most fun the three children had ever had before.

Soon, the evil monster tackled the prince to the ground.

"You will _never_ get my beautiful princess!" the monster warned.

"_Al_, get off of me! I'm the prince, so I'm supposed to get the princess! So let me go!" Edward angrily whispered to him.

"I can't just _let _you win. You have to fight me! Come on! Don't let Princess Winry down, she really likes you!" Al whispered back.

When Alphonse realized what he had just told his brother, he blushed and apologized.

"Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that…" he trailed off.

Ed blushed, realizing what his brother had just told him.

Winry had a crush on Ed.

All of a sudden, Al felt a heavy, blunt object smack him in the back, so he fell off Ed and landed onto the ground next to him, writhing in pain.

"Haha! I got you evil monster! That'll teach you to never hurt my dear prince again!" Winry boasted, holding the wrench she had just defeated him with.

_Where did she get a wrench from? _ The Elrics wondered.

"Umm, Winry? That's not how the game goes. The boy is supposed to save the girl. Not the other way around." Ed said.

"I don't care. Those rules are dumb. I don't think it matters who saves who, as long as the prince and the princess end up together again." She argued, then stared off into the distance, her short blond hair waving in the breeze.

He stared at her, mesmerized.

The loud bell that signaled the kids to go back inside rang.

"Thanks for trying to save me, Ed." Winry whispered to him, giggling.

"You're my hero." She finished, leaning into him, then planting her small, soft lips onto his cheek.

They both blushed, and she ran away, leaving him standing there, dazed.

Ed helped his brother off the ground and they both walked back to their classrooms, smiling.

"_Maybe school isn't so bad, after all._" Edward thought.


End file.
